|
Prospecting for another Pogo Geologix starts drilling on Teck’s MaComb property in Interior Alaska; past work shows similarities to high-grade Pogo gold deposit Patricia Jones Petroleum News Contributing Writer
Core drilling started in late June for the first time on the MaComb property in Interior Alaska, a 13,750-acre gold property initially discovered by Teck Resources in a regional reconnaissance exploration program in 1999 and 2000.
Teck, through its parent company Teck Cominco Ltd., optioned the property to a Vancouver, B.C.-based exploration start-up called Geologix (USA) Inc. Geologix is funding this year’s drilling program, which will include completing 10 to 20 slim core holes, to a maximum depth of 1,500 feet.
Other work on the property planned this summer includes geophysical surveys, surface mapping and sampling, according to Sam Dashevsky of Northern Associates, a Fairbanks-based geological consulting firm conducting the MaComb exploration work for Geologix.
Six to 10 workers will be on site this summer, completing the first drill program on the property by the end of July. An extended program may continue into September and October, according to the company’s hardrock exploration application filed with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.
Geologix plans to spend about $400,000 this year on the MaComb property, according to Andy Carstensen, vice president of exploration, in a phone interview on July 1 from the drilling site. “We could go with more, with some good results,” he said. “We’ll see what it takes to kick the tires a little bit.”
He said MaComb could compare either with Pogo, a high-grade underground deposit located about 62 miles north, or with the large, low-grade Fort Knox deposit being mined northeast of Fairbanks.
“The geologic setting is similar — it could go either way,” Carstensen said. “It’s a big unexplained soil gold anomaly.”
Right now, with one drill hole completed and another on the way, Carstensen said he’s trying to conserve drilling footage for future holes. “It all depends on the geology. I’ll take a hole deeper if I see a reason to do so,” he said.
Timing of this summer’s drill program is an attempt to “minimize disturbance to the local caribou population in the calving season in May, and to the hunters during their caribou killing season in mid-August,” according to the permit narrative.
Dashevsky described the MaComb prospect, located near Berry Creek about 10 miles south of the Alaska Highway and roughly 50 miles southeast of Delta Junction, as “quite unique.”
“It’s a plateau that’s a mile high among the foothills of the Alaska Range,” he said in a phone interview on June 30. “Except that there’s so much glacial material covering the area, it’s a good place to work.”
Recent discovery Teck identified in 1999 the MaComb gold anomaly by stream sediment sampling in drainages off the plateau, according to Paul Baxter, project geologist for Teck.
That work, a spinoff of the company’s interest in the Pogo gold project, was one of several grassroots properties identified in Teck’s regional exploration program in central Alaska.
Only a few of those properties remain in the company’s hands, Baxter said, and none other than MaComb will be worked this summer.
Soil samples taken on the plateau, showing high levels of gold in soil, followed the stream sampling program, and Teck eventually staked claims on the property in 2001, Baxter said. Additional ground-based geophysical surveys, along with more detailed soil samples, revealed a number of potential drill targets that year.
The property remained idle in 2002, despite its initial results. “With the minimal amount of information we know, it’s telling us that there’s potential for something large,” Baxter said. “We need to take the next step to find out more information.”
That next step involved optioning off MaComb, part of the company’s “risk management,” said Karl Hanneman, Alaska regional manager for Teck Cominco. “A decision was made that it would be better for the company to have (Geologix) put up the drilling dollars.” Neighboring Pogo According to Geologix’s press release, the MaComb property covers an intrusive hosted/shear hosted gold target within the Yukon Tanana belt, host of the 5.5 million ounce gold Pogo project.
In addition to proximity, the two gold targets share similar geological age, according to the press release.
Teck and its partner in the Pogo project, Sumitomo Metal Mining, are waiting final approval permits from state and federal regulators to start construction of the underground gold mine, plus a 49-mile access road to the remote Goodpaster River property, Hanneman said.
Geologix is kicking off its first exploration in Alaska with the MaComb property. Under terms outlined in its property option, Geologix can acquire a 100 percent interest in the MaComb property by spending $2 million by Dec. 31, 2007, of which $800,000 must be incurred by Dec. 31, 2004.
Teck holds an option to back into the property at a 60 percent share, if Geologix prepares and delivers a pre-feasibility study on the property. To earn back in, Teck would be required to prepare and deliver a final feasibility study within four years.
Teck can also re-earn an additional 5 percent share by arranging any debt financing, including guarantees, for which Geologix may be responsible. If Teck does not exercise its back-in right, it will retain a 1.5 percent net smelter return.
| 